A CARER who looks after her epileptic son says she is determined to keep his pet companion even if it means losing her home.

And neighbours are strongly supporting Barbara Beech, 61, of Didsbury Road, Norris Bank, who has been given 28 days notice to find a new home for her 17 week old cross breed terrier, Trudy, by the housing association.

Mrs Beech has lived in the flat since 1983 when, the Adactus Housing Group, which took over the flats last year, says she signed a tenancy agreement not to keep pets.

But she kept another dog, Pippa, for more than 15 years until she died in May this year.

Since then she has started looking after Trudy, but last week Mrs Beech received a notice from Adactus giving her 28 days notice to find alternative accommodation for Trudy.

But Mrs Beech is determined to keep her pet - and says she would rather lose her home than let Trudy go.

"I was heartbroken when Pippa died in May and then my elder son bought Trudy for his girlfriend, but she couldn't look after her," she said.

"I am the full-time carer for my younger son Tim, who suffers from epilepsy, and after Pippa died he became depressed, but once we got Trudy he became much happier and we have been given medical advice that it is beneficial to him for us to have a pet," Mrs Beech added.

Anthea Williams, a neighbour, said: "The neighbours here strongly support Mrs Beech and I believe a petition is being organised at a local off licence in her support."

A spokeswoman for Adactus said that following recent complaints from tenants it had come to light that Mrs Beech had broken the terms of her agreement by recently replacing her pet with a new one.

"Whilst we sympathise with Mrs Beech we have a duty of care for our other tenants and therefore she has been given a 28 day notice to find alternative accommodation for her pet," she added.

The spokeswoman said that if Mrs Beech did not find alternative accommodation for her dog within the 28 day notice period Adactus would review the situation and decide on what further action to take.